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Department: Social Work

Chairperson: Edward Hernandez

718 270 4838 office

718 270 4828 fax

ehernandez@mec.cuny.edu

Office: B-1032

Faculty: Edward Hernandez, Fabienne Snowden, Shari Richardson, Joyce Roberson-Steele, Franzeska Sampson-Bacchus

General Information

The mission of the Department of Social Work is to prepare students at the baccalaureate level for entry into social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, to work with diverse populations, and for continued study at the graduate level.

Housed in the Medgar Evers College School of Science and Allied Health the Department of Social Work offers a Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) degree that prepares students for entry-level social work positions and graduate school education. The BSSW degree program was established in January 2008. The CUNY Board of Trustees approved departmental status to the BSSW degree program in June 2017. The BSSW degree program has been accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Commission on Accreditation since October 2012.

The program builds on a solid liberal arts foundation and provides a challenging generalist curriculum. The program incorporates courses that focus on field education, policies and services, research, social work practice, diversity, populations-at-risk and social and economic justice, and human behavior in the social environment. All courses are aligned with the standards for social work education as defined by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Commission on Accreditation (CSWE, 2015). In addition to eleven foundation courses, the BSSW offers three areas of special interest:

  1. Child Welfare;

  2. Substance Abuse, and

  3. Gerontology.

Consistent with the College’s Mission and Goals, the BSSW degree has been designed to prepare its graduates for entry into the social work profession and further development in graduate study. The overarching goal of the baccalaureate degree program is to graduate students who will demonstrate proficiency in the knowledge, ethical values, and skills of the profession, be grounded in the profession’s history, purposes, and philosophy, social work practice and research in an ethical manner, helping to alleviate social and economic injustice as engaged, socially responsible citizens in a rapidly changing world.

There are no contingent conditions for admission. Students with a low GPA, depending on the circumstances, such as poor grades from several years ago or those transferring from a different major (in particular nursing) where they did not do well in some of the coursework, may be allowed to take one or two social work foundation courses and/or be given an extra semester to improve their grades. They can re-apply to the program at that time.

The Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program is designed to:

  • Prepare students for beginning generalist social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

  • Prepare students for social work practice with diverse populations and cultures.

  • Prepare students for using social work research to inform and evaluate practice.

  • Prepare students for developing a professional identity in concert with social work ethics.

  • Prepare students to promote social and economic justice for disenfranchised groups through social change and advocacy.

Academic Standards

Students in the Department are expected to pass Social Work required Core courses with an index of 2.0 in their major grade of “C” or better. For graduation, a student must have an index of 2.0 in their major.